Kaikoura Earthquake media release #20, 25 November 2016, 1330hrs

Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management Director Sarah Stuart-Black says the response to the Kaikoura earthquake is continuing to make good progress.

“Today I have been at the Canterbury Emergency Coordination Centre to thank the staff for their continued hard work supporting the communities affected by the quake. I would like to thank everyone involved in the response, at a national, regional and local level. It is because of your dedication and hard work that progress is being made.”

She says an example of the good progress is Kaikoura township residents today being able to use home toilets and showers. Residents have been asked to limit showers to every second day and to keep them short.

“The Kaikoura Emergency Access Route (Inland Road) is in a much better condition than it was ten days ago and work is continuing to get the road open so businesses can start operating again.”
Plans are proceeding to provide a safe and coordinated road evacuation from Kaikoura for some residents and visitors from 1p to 3pm today. This is for one-way travel from Kaikoura in a southward direction only.

This process is being coordinated by Civil Defence Emergency Management in Kaikoura and managed by the NZTA. It is subject to change due to weather conditions or safety assessments of the road. Conditions are still too unstable to safely allow geotechnical engineers onto some of the largest slips on SH1 to carry out inspections.

“Inspections will take place as soon as it is safe to do so. Until they have been carried out it is too early to say how the slips will be cleared, how long the work will take or how much it is likely to cost.”

After a large earthquake there is always an increased likelihood of aftershocks, some of which may be large. People should know what to do: drop, cover and hold. If you are near the coast and feel a strong earthquake that makes it hard to stand up, or a rolling earthquake that lasts longer than a minute, move immediately to high ground, or as far inland as possible.”

GNS Science is the provider of science information to the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management. Information about aftershock probabilities and scenarios is available at http://www.geonet.org.nz/

ENDS

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